Anesthetic
by largenouns
Summary: Darkness would never faze her again...after the Akatsuki took her. A Hinata fic.
1. Chapter 1

_I've been falling more in love with the Akatsuki, so I thought it would be fascinating to add a dose of Hinata to it. In this Hinata is 15, Sasori, Deidara, Hidan, Kakuzu and Orochimaru (who left the Akatsuki) are still alive. Sasori is appears in this fic as his own puppet, not represented by Hiruko. That's really all there is to it. Enjoy!_

**Standard disclaimer applies.**

Death didn't scare her anymore.

Death was almost a cure, something quick, easy, painless.

Who cares if she dies, anyways? Nobody would give a damn if she died.

It was raining heavy drops of darkness. She caught the raindrops in her mouth, swallowing them down fearlessly.

She was sure as hell not afraid of anything now. She welcomed darkness; it would be her pain-reliever. Darkness was predictable. In it it never hurt to think.

She had been in the dark for only three hours and already it was numbing her. Dressed in nothing but a white nightgown, she looked like an angel, glowing in the haze.

Who the hell cared, anyways…if she were to die. She didn't have friends or family. Instead, she had a broken life, a weak will, a bullying father, a silent home, and worst of all, hope.

It was fucking hope that brought her down. Her hope, oh yes, her _hope_, that brought her down to the dumps. The _hope_ that nearly killed her against Hyuuga prodigy Neji during the Chuunin exams. The hope that made her go on life-support. The hope that made her break her heart.

It was hope that made her keep on going when she saw Naruto, her idol, kissing Haruno Sakura and declaring his undying and intense love for her. It was hope that made her watch on as Sakura kissed him back. It was hope that kept her so optimistic. It was hope that brought her down when she heard her father was planning to assassinate her to make Hanabi heir.

Hope that made her come down here. Hope that pushed her to the edge. Hope that would leave her to her death.

Damn hope.

She couldn't stand being so strong anymore. Besides, there was nobody to care whether she was strong or not.

Nobody knew this side of her. She was selfish. She was shallow. She was pitiful. Pathetic. Weak. And she hid it all.

She couldn't stand her lif anymore. Besides, nobody was there to stop her from this. She felt Neji stir slightly as she silently crept past his room down, and knew that he didn't care enough to follow her. And there was her father, Hyuuga Hiashi, who wanted her dead.

She was lightening the Hyuuga family load after all. One less person to kill.

She stumbled against the heavy rain, her nightgown plastered onto his skin. The heavy rumble of thunder shook under her, and lightning followed simultaneously.

Her eyes shut instinctively as lightning flashed. In just a few, pointless moments, they would stay closed forever.

She stopped by the Hyuuga lake, part of the gardens of the Hyuuga mansion, close to over flooding, due to the rain. It seemed so large, so deep, so impenetrable.

She closed her eyes, and her lips seemed to move almost in prayer. The thunder rumbled against, almost mutely.

Something like peace seemed to striker her as lightning flashed again, illuminating the whole sky for a singe moment, before she gave a short laugh and raised her hands to the sky and dropped of into the dark lake below.

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Reviews are always welcomed! Thanks for reading.


	2. Chapter 2

**Standard Disclaimer applies.**

Thanks _KekeruTenshi_ and _kawaiiitahina12!_ You really made my day with the reviews!

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Uchiha Itachi could not deny that she was beautiful.

Her eyes were blinding, pupiless, unsettling, and her dark purple hair seemed to flow along her like water. She seemed so…intriguing, her eyes fixed towards nothing.

She was almost dancing in the rain.

It was the first lightning strike that night that led him here. He wasn't due to come back to Akatsuki headquarters for another week, and he finished his assassination mission in record time. He didn't even need his Sharingan.

He would have been annoyed and bored as hell, if it weren't for the rain. It fell immediately and he exulted in it.

The silence and darkness were breathtaking. He forgot what nature felt like.

Besides, it washed away the blood.

He had no fear of Konoha. It was a foolish place full of weak people. If he desired it, he could kill the Hokage and all the Jounin in a matter of hours. He didn't even care about his brother, who would never find enough talent within him to kill or avenge. He had no difficulty going to Konoha as an S-class criminal just to see lightning strike.

He had slipped quietly into a massive garden, glad to be breathing in fresh cool air…when he saw her. Instead of observing the thunder and lightning, he directed his attention to her, the girl that glowed in the darkness, the girl who seemed to blend into the rain effortlessly. He felt her sadness, like a knife, penetrate him…or was it something else? Anger? Frustration? Exhaustion?

She was carrying a long sword, and he stared eagerly for more, like it was entertainment playing out in front of me. _Was she going to kill herself?_ The thought seemed to amuse him.

The most amusing people were the ones that felt sorry for themselves. It was fun, just watching them blubber pathetically of their sad lives. They were weak, he was not. He wielded the power to control him.

He continued to watch her as she stumbled to the gigantic lake much too big for her. He could feel his body tense as he awaited the big climax, the jump. Would she do it, or would she lose her nerve? Would she pray? Cry? He was fascinated with Death. It was something he knew he could never conquer, yet he treated it casually, like an old friend. He knew how Death looked and how it arrived silently. How long would a death by drowning take? Five minutes? An hour?

She was praying. He wondered vaguely how long this boring part would take. Perhaps it would be much better just to kill her himself. It would be unexpected and painless. He would make sure of that.

Lightning flashed again, and suddenly he could see every little detail of her: the quiet dignity she held herself in, the droplets of rain stuck on her skin, her lips moving into a twisted smile. He felt her take an anticipatory last breath, and he felt all the amusement suddenly tugged away from him. He felt cheated. Since when did the climax come so quickly and so quietly?

He was still scowling as she jumped into the large pool of water, her eyes closed peacefully.

He defied the laws of gravity as he flew towards her tapped the back of her neck, plunging her into unconsciousness and caught her in less than a second. The rain poured heavily on them as he effortlessly carried her into a sitting position.

_What a silly girl,_ he thought idly, as he spotted the long sword. Not even planning her own death right. Why did she have to carry a heavy sword when she didn't use it? He picked the sword up, wondering if it could be something he could sell. Glittering embellishments dotted the handle.

_Hyuuga_, it read._ The Noble Family._

He looked down at the unconscious girl before him. Was she really a Hyuuga? He smirked. Things had _really_ changed since he left. The Hyuugas used to be strong and dominating, unlike this weak slip of a girl.

He frowned at the figure, trying to remember. He had been to the Hyuugas before. In fact, he was engaged to one—the heiress, actually. Her name was Hidanta. Or was it Hidata?

Lightning struck again and he caught a glimpse of the sword again in the bright light.

_Belongs to the Rightful Heiress, Hyuuga Hinata._

Something like humor came up to him, and he smirked.

"Good luck, Hyuuga Hinata," he said loudly, and it echoed densely around the estate. She would be a lot of fun,, he thought, and he picked her up and stole her through the night, away from all of her old past and into a new disconcerting kind of darkness.

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Thanks for reading again, and please leave reviews!


	3. Chapter 3

This is the next chapter. Thanks to _black55widow_, _kawaiiitahina123_, _KakeruTenshi_, and _HeartBrokenHinata_ for your reviews! I'm so glad that I have such cool reviewers. XP

**Standard disclaimer applies.**

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It was odd, but she woke up to the light.

Tentative eyes open, and she sat up and looked curiously around, memorizing the scene.

_Is this Hell?_ She wondered. Hell seemed so bright in its splendor. Hesitantly, she held out her arm and touched it. So she was solid, too.

Hell seemed friendly.

There was a swoop, a clang of metal, and she turned around quickly to face the noise.

It was a man, far too familiar, his posture giving her an aura of unbalance, danger. His eyes were so familiar too, hypnotizing and suckering. She stared at him and he looked impassively back.

It took a while to find her voice.

"Are you the Devil?"

Something like amusement flickered onto his features. "Something like that."

There was a long silence, and something akin to dread suddenly filled her. What if—what if she was dead after all? What if she was still alive? She struggled with that painful thought.

"I'm not dead, am I?"

He said nothing. He seemed as emotionless as a rock.

She stared at him, the fear growing stronger. _She wasn't dead…her life still continued. A waste._ The silence lengthened between them and she sated at him even harder, trying to figure out who he was. The eyes were so familiar…like…like…

"Are you going to scream," he said tonelessly.

She gaper, open-mouthed, still trying to figure it out. His eyes reminded her of…_Uchiha_. Suddenly, it came to her, and her eyes widened and she opened her mouth to screa—

There was a kunai to her throat. She shivered at the cold surface of the metal.

"You scream," he hissed, "I'll kill you." The kunai had already stolen drops of blood. She forgot how to breathe. She stood as quietly as she could, but the nervous darting her eyes and the violent trembling gave it away.

He sighed, and there was something like irritation in his voice. "_Weak_." He spat out the word like it was a disease. "Not amusing. Not fun to watch at all."

She had no idea what he meant, nor did she care. She closed her eyes, leaving her very easy prey for the predator. She took short, shallow breathes as his body pressed closer to hers. "Boring. A Liability." His voice was calm, cool, calculating. "I should kill you."

She stayed the way she was. It was just dying a few moments later than planned. It would be painless…and who knows? Maybe it would be better this way.

She did not welcome it nor did she beg it to stop. His kunai cut into another layer of her skin and she winced.

He stopped and threw her a disgusted look. "Liability," he repeated. "You're annoying." He paused and gave her an undecipherable gaze. She trembled under his Sharingan. "Oh well." He turned away. "You live another day. Treat it as your last."

And she was alone again.

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This chapter is a little short...so I decided to post longer chapters. Thanks for reading as always!


	4. Chapter 4

**Standard disclaimer applies.**

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The air was humid.

She collapsed again, her body heaving and her eyes tired and exhausted. Her mind wasn't working very well. Every fiver of her being was covered with exhaustion. And horror.

"Stand up." It was him. His face was contorted with disgust. Disgust, anger, and frustration. She struggled back up, her legs trembling. Her legs gave way again, and she fell with a cry of pain. It was the first sound she had made for days. That was all her lack of energy permitted her to make.

"Stand up." He wasn't even looking at her, not even deeming her a worthy subject to look at.

She was weak. After the first hundred miles of travel, she cracked. By the next hundred, she had stopped thinking. By the third hundred, she became nothing but a blank face. Her mind slowly deciphered thoughts, observations and voice. It took thirty minutes to realize it was raining, three hours to realize it was nighttime. All she registered was the emptiness nipping at her over and over again. She hadn't eaten food for two days. She was caked in mud and some yellow sticky substance. She wasn't alive. _Was Hell anything like this?_

He stood in silence, but the fury emanating from him was tangible. He knelt over her, his hands cold but gripping. In a flash he pulled a kunai and held it against her throat.

He didn't bother speaking.

Her neck was thoroughly bruised. He had done this so many times before that it almost felt comforting in familiarity. The first drops of blood fell thickly. Her eyes shot wide open as he smeared his fingers onto her face. She felt the tangy liquid of blood on her lips and she gulped.

Blood. All over her.

She wanted to scream.

He looked wordlessly down at his bloodied fingers and slowly, deliberately began to lick it.

Her head began to spin. She wanted to fall unconscious to immediate peace. She wanted it to _end_…

Her legs trembled as she moved slowly, her jaw clenched from the dull pain. Her chakra had diminished to almost nothing.

She stood up.

He looked at her, and the indifferent look in his eyes made her shiver. "You do that again, I won't wait."

She knew what he meant.

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She had to stand asleep.

Her bruised legs gave up trembling and instead became numb. Instead of her legs hurting, it became her heavily blistered feet.

She slept four hours, so they could move again at the crack of dawn. The journey had stretched into numberless days. There were no words, no eye-contact, no gestures.

It was one morning—if you could call it a morning at 3 AM, when she work up on fire.

She didn't scream, but merely looked at her body in interest. But when the flames began to devour her body, her mouth opened in a surprise scream but nothing came out. It must have been five seconds before it was distinguished.

"Wakey, wakey, wakey." An unfamiliar voice filtered through her brain, and she looked up at the person with curious eyes. He was a monster, with his blue skin. Inhuman. His eyes were small, white and watery, and his mouth was stretched into a leer.

"You seemed like a pretty girl. Did Itachi pick you up from the streets?

She merely stared at him.

"We don't need her in Akatsuki," he said loudly to a silent Itachi. "She's weak. A liability."

She didn't even care about what they thought about her. _As if he could think that anything they would say would affect her._

"We could sell her. She's a pretty thing. We could make a fortune off her by selling her as a slave."

"No." The answer was short and to the point. Itachi glared at his partner.

"Have you grown fond of the girl?" The monster seemed to have grown incredulous. "Are you caring for her? Tucking her into bed? _Feeding_ her?"

There was a slam and the monster was slammed to the ground an inch away from death.

"Just kidding. But touchy in the mornings, aren't you?"

She kept her face down, wishing she could disappear.

"Hey, you there." It was the monster, and she stumbled over herself again. Laughter seemed to reverberate in the vicinity. "She's amusing to watch, isn't she? The alive girl."

"Not in the least," his partner said softly.

"So you wouldn't mind…if I killed her?" The monster asked skeptically.

"Not really."

"Then why haven't you killed her?" His voice was shocked and bewildered.

"I don't care. If she lives or dies." He repeated dully.

Her stomach growled, and she closed her eyes as the sound drew the monster's attention.

"Haven't been feeding her?" The monster laughed. "You aren't very _nice._ Maybe I can just end it by killing her….she is weak, and besides, we could sell her to Zetsu for food."

Itachi didn't make a sound, and the monster laughed and moved closer to her. She shivered. "Don't be afraid," he crooned mockingly. "You won't feel the pain of being eaten alive. I'll kill you first." She shut her eyes and felt the sudden surge of insurmountable chakra.

"P-please," she croaked, and the two Akatsuki members froze. "Kill me."

There was a long silence, and she tensed, waiting for a scathing and mocking reply before death. None came. Perhaps she was dead already…she tentatively opened her eyes and was disappointed. The monster was still in front of her, poised for attack.

"_No_." he tossed his weapon away and gave her a contemptuous look. "_No_."

"_No?_" she was beginning to panic.

"No." The monster began to laugh. "Itachi, you have a very interesting _friend._"

She winced at the last word. Itachi made no response.

The monster knelt down so they faced each other, their faces level. "I'm Kisame. That's all you'll ever need to know."

She nodded dumbly.

"Now, aren't you going to tell me your name?" he asked, amused. "Isn't that customary in the Public World?" He waited.

There was a long silence before she whispered, "Hyuuga Hinata."

He smirked. "She's so weak. You sure know how to pick them, Itachi." Said person made no response.

Suddenly Itachi straightened up. "We need to go," he muttered. "We'll be late. She's slow. We'll be late at her rate."

She winced at the unbidden disgust in his voice.

"I'll carry her," Kisame said. "She's light. And don't worry, pretty," he added, sneering. "I won't…_bite._"

Something in his tone suggested otherwise.

"Thank you," she whispered automatically.

"What was that?" his voice seemed bewildered.

"Thank you." She sounded like a small child, thanking a grownup for giving out sweets—frail, quiet, small.

He looked at her with an odd expression on his face, akin to wonder, before his face suddenly and unexpectedly shuttered.

"Hn." It was the most indifferent tone of voice she had ever heard from him.

She nodded once before turning away, her eyes tilted towards the sky…_maybe there were nice Akatsuki members_, she thought hopefully,_ even if they did these favors out of mockery and spite._

"No." It was Itachi, ad his voice was bleak and harsh. She looked at him and was met with an alarming glare of hatred, animosity and…jealousy?

"What?" It was Kisame, his tone normal again.

"No," he repeated flatly.

"Don't carry her? But it will be faster if—"

"No." He took a breath and a torrent of words spilt out. "She is weak. This might as well be training to improve her stamina. Besides—" He tossed her a dreadful look," if we are late because of her, we will tell Leader-sama. And she will face the consequences."

Her feet were aching and her eyes felt swollen. She felt dirty, used, like a public toilet. No, scratch _felt_ and replace it with _was_.

"Fine. That's actually a GREAT idea, Itachi." Kisame seemed eager to inflict more suffering on her. "We can go our normal pace, and you can use that pretty Byukagan of yours to find us." He paused, squinting at the rising sun just above them. "It will take Itachi and me three hours of travel. We are expected at six at night."

"We will rest before then," Itachi said quietly. "You have twelve hours of rest."

It was a miracle. She collapsed before them, not caring about her dignity, not caring about punishment. She fell asleep before she hit the floor.

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They were miles away from her. If she didn't catch up soon, she would lose her Byukagan sight of them.

Her body was stumbling, already tired after only thirty minutes. The twelve hours of sleep had help replenish her chakra, but it had not helped in the least with her physical energy, and certainly had not helped heal her aching body.

She closed her eyes, relying on her Byukagan from walking into objects like trees. She had to think of a strategy to stop her from losing track of the Akatsuki members. Maybe she could use her Byukagan sporadically, use her chakra to propel herself forward…or…

Maybe she could just run away.

But she knew that they would come find her and punish her. They could easily do that.

But if…if she could…_kill herself_ before that…

She knew she would never dare. And besides, they would have found her out before she killed herself. They would stop her from that and torture her forever.

If she could, she would have laughed. How ironic, that the Akatsuki killed so easily, yet they refused to kill her. How insane, that for the one person who wanted death, they wouldn't give itto her.

When had she been so broken that she started pleading for death? Hadn't she, once, loved life? How badly had she warped? Why was she so weak?

She was weak only because her father told her so, wasn't she? That's what she told herself over and over again. But now she was free, wasn't she? She was free from her old life. And even though the new life felt so horrible, it shut her mind down and numbed her feelings like a drug. Ironically enough, the physical pain seemed to give her an escape route from her ensnaring and imprisoning mind.

And suddenly, all of her overwhelming feelings seemed to explode, and she stopped her running and froze. Her heart felt as if it were exploding. She clutched her chest with a moan. _What was happening to her?_ And suddenly, she began to run again, trying to shake off all these sudden intense _feelings_. Oh, if only she were given the choice of cutting her heart out!

And suddenly, the pain had gone, and all that was left in its wake was sudden, vivid _clarity._ She opened her eyes, and only the blur of white was visible. _Was she in Heaven?_

The thought seemed to rock her…_Heaven?_ Take _her?_ She was not worthy for Heaven. _No…she wouldn't be in Heaven…but maybe…she was flying._ The thought tickled her, and she laughed. _Wouldn't that be funny?_ And suddenly her thoughts were raining down at her like laser bullets and she heard every single one of them and she dodged them laughing and Christ her legs were moving so fast, so fast she seemed to glide and it had been two hours but really if felt like it was just a couple of minutes and she felt like she was engulfed, like she was being embraced and it felt so good, and she was laughing again because nothing mattered and she felt like she was so out of breath and she couldn't breathe anymore and she was getting dizzy and everything seemed to blur and she closed her eyes and she stopped her insane running and her thoughts were moving slower and too late they seemed lodged inside her body like bullets and her body was on fire, because she—

"Hinata?" It was a familiar-sounding voice, she groggily thought.She didn't want to open her eyes anymore and she slid onto the hard, welcoming ground. "Is that you?" Was that disbelief in his voice? "H-how did you catch up to us?"

She didn't answer. She didn't need to. Christ she was tired, because it felt as if her insides were sucked out of her and she wanted to throw up and everything was spinning.

"No chakra left in her." Was that Itachi?

"She must have been—been traveling over a hundred miles per hour to catch up to us!"

Was it just her, or were their voices getting softer and softer?Actually, it probably was just her. She couldn't decipher their conversation, but their voices were so annoying in their persistent buzzing.

Then suddenly against the confusion, a clear voice: "_Hinata_."

She wondered oddly how is voice was so clear. She could hear every single vibration in the word. "Hinata," the voice said again. "Look at me."

She obeyed, her eyes squinting against the funny light. She could vaguely see Kisame leaning down, a look of bewilderment on his face, and Itachi, his body kneeling next to hers, his face indifferent but oddly…different.

Then she caught a glimpse of his eyes. They were captivating, bright read, irresistible…everything else faded away as she stared at the hypnotizing eyes.

"Sleep," he whispered, and she slept.

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This is finally a decent-sized chapter. Thanks for reading, and don't forget the reviews (_hinthint_XP!


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